An Australian magazine focusing on interesting music

Dak – Standthis (Leaving Records)

A while back I was switched on to one of Matthew David’s projects – Leaving Records – and this is my first acquisition. It’s a limited edition run of 100 cassettes (mine being no.42). The label has a very specific orientation, which can be sampled in more detail by downloading this mix.

This tape contains 21 tracks from the currently LA based producer. The easiest way to explain it would be to make a bunch of comparisons to vaguely similar producers, but that wouldn’t do it justice. It’s sample based, choppy, slightly A.D.D. and sits mostly in a head nod tempo, but it all comes together in a way that’s a little different to the beat experiments most readers will be familiar with. There’s synths, but it’s all very organic – there’s beats, but it’s never just about kicks and snares – there’s flipped jazz samples, but it’s never derivative. It’s always texturally rich, and full of harmonic toying; the whole mix sort of twitches with a nervous energy that’s very infectious. At points the mix abandons it’s digestible lope and descends into a sort of free jazz drum malaise, and at other times falls away into interludes with someone (who may or may not be Dak) mumbling strange poignant things about the music over it.

This is something absolutely worth checking out, for anyone interested in beats, psychedelia, sample based production, the much hyped LA scene, or just great new music.